Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1887-02-28
Educated and Uneducsted.

Gov. Taylor, OF Tennessee, having sent
message to the Legislature OF that State
urging the adoption OF resolution calling
on Congress TO pass the Blair educational
bill, Nashville paper takes issue with
him and objects 10 Federal aid to ieduca-
tion. In the course of its argument. the
Nashville paper asks the question: "Who
educates the uneducatedp The question
is somewhat paradoxical, but it is sug-
gestive. What the Nashville paper means
Is doubtless this: Who gives to men that
are without the education OF schools and
colleges the ability TO succeed in their
undertakings.
many entertain erroneous views on the
subject of education. 1t is a mistake to
suppose that attendance upon schools or
residence in college halls is necessary to
education. Not that schools and colleges
are unnecessary. They stand as outpOsts
against ignorance. Thousands of the
best men and women have been educated
In them; but an education outside has
been &C complished in multitude
oil instances. 1t is often the
case that very successful men in business
are spoken of as "uneducated." But are
tneyY They may not have spent years, or
even months. in schools and colleges, but
II is mistake to call them "uneducated.9
Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson
were ''uneducated" in the common ac-
ceptation of the term. and yet nobody
will deny that they were successful in
their un dertakngs. Jay Gould and
Thomas A. Edison are also called Gun
educated" but If they are they have been
singulsrly fortunate in hiding their de-
ficIencies.
1t is related Of DR.. Hitchcock, one of
the presidents OF Amherst College, at
when he was asked from what institution
ne graduated, he replied: From my
mothers dye-tub." In explanation. it is
said that when DR.. Hitchcock was a boy
IN many houses a wooden dye-tub, hold
Ing eight or ten gallons, stood in almost
every kitchen chimney corner, filed with
dye, where the good house wives colored
the yarn for the stockings and gloves of
the household. 1t was q cosy place, and
the covered top was frequently occu-
pied Dy children when study
ing their arithmetic aud grammar.
AS it was with DR.. Hitchcock, so it has
been with many others. They have re-
ceived their education in the strongly in
dividualiZed school OF home. There may
have been lack OF what is called system
In their education, but there has been no
lack of thorough, practical instruction.
1t is a question whether the schools
much system. The plan, as a rule, is to
force all youths to go through a certain
course of examining without reference to
differences in talents and inclinations, and
the result Is that to a large degr ee indi-
viduality is destroyed. Such a system
has faults. There are evidences on every
hand that those who are forced to become
its victims leave the schools and coll eyes
not only with their Individuality serious
ly Impaired, but in more than one sense
''uneducated." Proof of this is found in
the large number of graduates who are
unable to put their requirements to prof.
liable use. They are like so many wooden
images. each resembling the other, and
none of them able to move without out
side influences.
What is needed in the United States,
and especially IN the South, is education
that will so train youths that they will
not find it necessary after graduating to
spend several years finding out what
they are fit for and becoming acquainted
with the ordinary principles of business.
There are those who call such education
utilitarian, but there is no reason WHY
unitarian education should be incon-
sistent with the highest scholastic attain
ments.